My DD attending college, who was confirmed in our neighborhood church, received a letter addressed to her saying they were dropping her from their rolls since you hadn't attended in awhile.

Some churches actually send care-packages to their members away at college! Nope! Not this one.

I was at one that was requiring attendance to attend church vision meetings as a guest in someone's home. Once there you were provided with a form to sign, pledging that you will properly tithe the full 10% of your earnings into the offering plate for the next 4 years. Form required signing and return by the next Sunday. If you didn't sign you would be called.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been church shopping for a while and one church sent us an email that said that if we want to attend services as members we had to pay. Like don't come back unless we complete the direct debit form attached to the email. We were so turned off. Is it just good business or money grubbing?

I’ve never heard of this in Christianity.

This happened to me in college decades ago when I met with a campus priest. He said I had to accept the pledging envelopes in order to go to mass. I chose not to attend church on campus and never joined another catholic church after that.

I got something similar from St Mary’s episcopal church in Arlington when we were looking to have my first baptized. I was on the fence with religion as it was, and that was the end of the cultlike churches for me.

Anonymous wrote:If there’s no evidence that he said it or didn’t say it, it’s better practice not to put words in his mouth.

This.

Anonymous wrote:We have been church shopping for a while and one church sent us an email that said that if we want to attend services as members we had to pay. Like don't come back unless we complete the direct debit form attached to the email. We were so turned off. Is it just good business or money grubbing?

I’ve never heard of this in Christianity.

I would be worried that someone within the church may be acting outside of decency and the law and using that email to embezzle money from new and unsuspecting parishioners.

Name and shame please, and more importantly, contact the next level within the church hierarchy and validate this is a legitimate email and practice. You could be helping others not be taken advantage of and correcting an illegal and hidden issue that is operating in darkness. I’ve never heard of such a requirement. As someone said above, are you joining a cult?

A form of the quote is officially attributed to another man.

I have found no authoritative source for Gandhi saying this. The actual quote is attributed to Bara Dada, "Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians -- you are not like him." Source - Jones, E. Stanley. The Christ of the Indian Road, New York: The Abingdon Press,1925. (Page 114)

It does, to the extent that many of those using the quote are trying to use Gandhi's authority to circumvent real argument/ compel a guilt trip, or try to deliver some easy lesson on Christian behavior that avoids messy details. They could just say the same thing themselves, but it would lose what little bit of force it had as a celebrity quote -- and that was the only thing it had going behind it.

Mahatma and those who would use his words to impugn others do not deserve a free pass when it comes to misinformation.

Beware those who use cheesy Facebook memes for a basis of anything in life.

If there’s no evidence that he said it or didn’t say it, it’s better practice not to put words in his mouth.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a non-Christian faith and find this really shocking. I thought houses of worship (of any religion) were supposed to be welcoming places that offered refuge to all?

Reminds me of the quote

7 Gandhi Quotes That Are Totally Fake

https://gizmodo.com/7-gandhi-quotes-that-are-totally-fake-1716503435

Fake Gandhi quote, btw.

Simply saying "there’s no evidence that Gandhi ever said this" as the linked article does, is not evidence that he never said it. I first heard this quote in a movie - which also is not evidence one way or the other.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a non-Christian faith and find this really shocking. I thought houses of worship (of any religion) were supposed to be welcoming places that offered refuge to all?

Reminds me of the quote

7 Gandhi Quotes That Are Totally Fake

https://gizmodo.com/7-gandhi-quotes-that-are-totally-fake-1716503435

Fake Gandhi quote, btw.

I get that places of worship need funds to operate, but there are so many better ways they could have worded that! The goal is to help you understand why they need your financial support and what it funds. Sounds like a horrible business decision.

They obviously didn’t read the part in St. Paul where he discusses preaching the gospel free of charge.

Run.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a non-Christian faith and find this really shocking. I thought houses of worship (of any religion) were supposed to be welcoming places that offered refuge to all?

Reminds me of the quote

I would never join a church like that and I’m surprised others have posted about their churches asking for money to be members or “voting” members. Sorry but that’s not right.